Fiscal Fragmentation and the Spatial Distribution of Crime Rates in the United States
by    Jinghua Lei, Jenny Ligthart, Mark Rider and Ruixin Wang

International Tax and Public Finance     (2022) 29:751–787    

Keywords:Fiscal Fragmentation and the Spatial Distribution of Crime Rates in United States

Abstract:

This article investigates the effects of fiscal fragmentation on aggregate crime rates and the spatial disparities in crime rates among counties in a metropolitan area.The model predicts that fiscal fragmentation creates an efficiency-equity tradeoff. Our findings suggest that fiscal fragmentation increases efficiency in the provision of public safety; that is, fiscal fragmentation has a negative effect on aggregate crime rates in metropolitan areas. We also find that fiscal fragmentation increases disparities in crime rates among counties in a metropolitan area. In other words, fiscal fragmentation has a negative effect on interpersonal equity in the provision of public safety. We further explore the underlying mechanisms of the efficiency-equity tradeoff in a Spatial-Autoregressive Durbin model with multiplicative spatial interaction terms. As predicted, we find evidence of both interjurisdictional spillover effects and Tiebout-sorting effects due to fiscal fragmentation.

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